The present invention relates to open fire cooking appliances and, in particular, to a portable open fire grill having a cooking platform that can be adjusted three dimensionally relative to a cook fire.
Numerous types of outdoor grills have been developed over the years for supporting food above a cook fire. Many consist of simple assemblies for securing a mesh or wire form grill a fixed height above the fire. For example, rocks or bricks can be used to support the grill. Wheel rims, on occasion, have been used to contain a fire and support a grill. Parks frequently also provide raised, welded fire boxes having mesh grill covers. Various other fire box assemblies with stationary or folding legs and grill covers have also been constructed.
Tripod grill supports are also known. Such supports typically support a circular, mesh grill beneath the apex of an assembled framework, which grill may be vertically adjusted along a chain or other hanger. For example, reference U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,138.
Some cooking assemblies provide an upright stanchion or stake, which is driven into the ground, adjacent the fire, and which can support one or more mesh platforms, griddles or grills. The grills can be adjusted vertically along the stanchion or the grills can be rotated away from the fire. A coupler at the grill may interconnect with mating couplers secured along the stanchion or the coupler may permit a tilting action and whereby the grill to is held by friction to the stanchion. Multiple or an infinite number of cooking heights can be obtained with such a coupling. Examples of such cooking assemblies are shown at U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,351,312; 4,553,525; 4,538,589; and 4,607,608.
Although the foregoing assemblies permit adjustment of the cooking surface along one or two axes, they do not accommodate three dimensional adjustment. The cooking assembly of the present invention provides a portable assembly which disassembles for compact storage. The assembly also permits substantially infinite adjustment of the cooking surface in three dimensions, which enhances its value in relation to outdoor cooking, where the vagaries of the wind and the fire can make it difficult to tend foodstuffs being cooked. The assembly can be mounted to a driven stake or a support stand.